The Salt Lake City Main Public Library occupies a city block across from City Hall. The urban design plan reimagines the role of the library in a downtown setting, drawing the library’s program into the city and the city’s program into the library.
The building consists of a five story, triangular-shaped structure housing the stacks and readers’ facilities, an adjacent rectangular administration wing, and a glass-enclosed urban room, all contained by a crescent-shaped wall. The wall descends toward the piazza, providing a sweeping external staircase that connects the piazza to a rooftop garden overlooking the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. The urban room opens into the piazza, which is lined within the wall with shops, restaurants, meeting rooms, and an auditorium.
Within the crescent, reading galleries occupy the four levels above the retail areas and connect by bridges to the main library block. On the lowest level, the children’s library spills outdoors into an amphitheater and a children’s garden, around which cluster story rooms designed as part of the art program. A south-facing, five-story double-glazed “lens” opens the entire library toward the mountain view while providing shade or trapping the sun’s heat, as appropriate to each season.
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Collaborators
Associate Architects -
VCBOArchitecture
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Awards
Ten Most Beautiful Libraries in the World, abcnews, 2013
AIA/ALA Library Building Award, American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association, 2005
Honor Award for Outstanding Architecture, American Institute of Architects, 2004
Design Award for Best Public/Institutional Building, Prestressed Concrete Institute, 2003
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Clients
Salt Lake City Library
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Cost
US $78 million
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Size
225,000 sq ft | 20,903 sq m
More Details
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